‘HE WAS A CLASS APART, EVEN THEN’

Dick Mctaggart knew Ali, above, was The Greatest when he first saw him throw a punch.

Fresh from claiming the lightweight crown – and the prestigious Val Barker Trophy for most stylish fighter – at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Dundee boxing hero Mctaggart travelled to Rome in 1960 with a fearsome reputation.

Invited to meet the American team, Mctaggart was immediately impressed by the teenage Clay – and his hyper-confident persona.

The brash young American went on to claim light heavyweight gold.

In spite of several sparkling displays, though, Clay was overlooked for the Val Barker trophy.

“I met him in Rome when he was just a teenager,” said Mctaggart.

“Of course, I wasn’t much older, but I was impressed with him straight away. Even though he was still Cassius Clay at that time, he was already giving it the ‘I am The Greatest’ stuff.

“That eventually became his trademark, but everybody was talking about him even then. He was certainly a confident lad, I noticed that straight away. But he was a gentleman with it, and good company. And when I watched him fight, it was obvious he had the ability to back up the things he was saying.

“He was a class apart, even then.”

Clay and Mctaggart never met again after 1960.

“I stayed amateur through my whole career,” said Mctaggart.

“Ali went down a different path, and is rightly thought of as the greatest boxer of all time. “There can be no argument with that. “My staying amateur is probably the reason I’ve kept my brains, I don’t have much in that department – but what I did have I kept.”

Ali’s final years were a rollercoaster ride for fans as he raged against the dying of the light.

The three-time world heavyweight champion, who had battled Parkinson’s disease for 32 years, died in Phoenix in 2016 at the age of 74.